Canada took the day off on Tuesday, to recharge while waiting to face the winner of Wednesday's American-Czech game.

UFA, RUSSIA—Canada took the day off on Tuesday, to recharge while waiting to face the winner of Wednesday's American-Czech game.

The Canadians weren't picky about who their next opponent might be.

“Again, when you're down to this, they're all (good teams),” said Team Canada coach Steve Spott. “They all have different ways they can be dangerous. We'll be prepared for whoever we play.

“Now we're into one-game situations. We all know those are very difficult games. I do like the place our team is in right now and I do like the mind-set of the group.”

The Americans, whose offence had been sputtering until drubbing Slovakia, are hoping for another shot at Canada.

The Canadians revelled in having a day off, a reward for going undefeated in round-robin play after beating Russia 4-1.

“We approached this game (against Russia) as a team and we understood it would be huge to have an extra day off,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “It's what we wanted. It will work to our advantage for sure.

“We're playing hard, we're playing well. We're really gelling as a team. We're just going to have to keep getting better.

“We've got really good confidence in our group,” said defenceman Ty Wotherspoon. “We know we have a couple of things to fix. We're going to do that the next couple of days. We're just looking to get better every day.

“We're looking to get rested up and come hard in the semis.”

The Canadians also took some time to heal some wounds.

Those with injuries include defenceman Rielly, who got a stick in the face from future teammate Tyler Biggs, and defenceman Dougie Hamilton, sporting stitches to his chin from a shot some said he'd embellished and Wotherspoon, who got skate blade to the cheek.

“It's just like getting punched in the face,” said Wotherspoon. “I didn't even know it was that bad until I got to the bench. It was the heel of a skate. He kind of toe-picked, not sure what happened.”

NOTES:

Some 30 million Russians were reported to have watched the Canada-Russia game on New Years' Eve, most casual fans. The tournament lost some momentum, Russian journalists say, because to the casual fan beating Canada on New Year's Eve would have been a bigger deal than winning gold on Saturday.

…

Is there a generation gap between the teenagers on Team Canada and the reporters covering the team? You decide, based on Dougie Hamilton's answer to a question about Jonathan Drouin's stellar ability: “The first time I saw him you could tell his skill level was exceptional. Or as we call it, sic.”

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